ETRE Conference Rome (2001): Part 2

In part two of our coverage of the European Technology Roundtable and Exhibition in Rome, we start off with the telecom meltdown and why you still can't get low-cost broadband connections to the Internet. [Episode #1912, First broadcast: 12/4/2001] 3Com Chairman Eric Benhamou, Joel Dreyfuss from Bloomberg News, DASAR chairman/CEO Alex Vieux, David Einstein from the San Francisco Chronicle and Dan Gillmor from the San Jose Mercury News take turns discussing why telecommunications companies have failed to provide easy broadband access and how content providers haven't supplied enough material to require the need for broadband. Next, it's a battle over digital rights management between Hollywood and the Internet. Thom Calandra from CBS Marketwatch talks about how a balance could be found between fair-use and piracy and why Hollywood is still hostile to discussion over digital rights management. Then, we bring you a new solution to bridging the digital divide with a broadband satellite network ring around the Earth. Bill Owens, CEO of ICO Teledesic, explains this ambitious project to bring Internet connections to everyone all over the world. Plus, Kevin Fong from the Mayfield Fund and Michael Rogers from Newsweek talk about government regulation and funding of broadband infrastructure and how the current fear of terrorism is pushing the need for broadband with the video conferencing a safe alternative to flying. Finally Tim Draper, from Draper, Fisher, Jurvetson, and Bill Gates comment on why technology experts are looking to Asia as the key to future economic growth in the U.S. http://archive.org/details/European2001_2